The New Miracle
Of old men wrought strange gods for mystery,Implored miraculous tokens in the skies,And lips that most were strange in prophecyWere most accounted wise.
The hearthstone’s commerce between mate and mate,Barren of wonder, prospered in content,And still the hunger of their thought was greatFor sweet astonishment.
And so they built them altars of retreatWhere life’s familiar use was overthrown,And left the shining world about their feet,To travel worlds unknown.
We hunger still. But wonder has come downFrom alien skies upon the midst of us;The sparkling hedgerow and the clamorous townHave grown miraculous.
And man from his far travelling returnsTo find yet stranger wisdom than he sought,Where in the habit of his threshold burnsUnfathomable thought.
Words in this poem
- astonishment n.
- The condition of one who is stunned. Hence: Numbness; loss of sensation; stupor; loss of sense. [Cf. OF. est, F. étonnement.]
- hedgerow n.
- A row of shrubs, or trees, planted for inclosure or separation of fields.
Definitions and etymologies from Webster's Unabridged Dictionary, 1913.
About this text
The New Miracle is in the public domain. This text is taken from Poems, 1908-1919, Project Gutenberg ebook #51575; the transcription's header, footer and licence were removed and nothing else was changed. You may copy, print and reuse it freely.
Cite as: John Drinkwater, The New Miracle, in Poems, 1908-1919 (1919), text of Project Gutenberg ebook #51575, Laurel, https://laurelpoetry.com/poem/drinkwater-poems/the-new-miracle.html, id L23015.
Form and metre
The New Miracle is 20 lines in 5 stanzas of 4 lines each. The rhyme scheme is ABAB, complete in 3 of its 5 stanzas. The metre is iambic pentameter, measured from the stress the words themselves fix (confidence 84%).
See other poems in iambic pentameter.
Measured by Laurel's pipeline, not copied from a handbook: how stress and metre are counted, how rhyme is lettered, how a drifted rhyme is found. Where the dictionary cannot confirm a rhyme the letter is withheld, not guessed.
Rhyme words, stanza by stanza
The word that ends each line, lettered by the rhyme it makes; a dash is a line whose rhyme the dictionary could not confirm.
- 1 -A-A mystery · skiesA · prophecy · wiseA
- 2 A-A- mateA · content · greatA · astonishment
- 3 ABAB retreatA · overthrownB · feetA · unknownB
- 4 ABAB downA · usB · townA · miraculousB
- 5 ABAB returnsA · soughtB · burnsA · thoughtB
Scansion, line by line
Each line with its syllable count and the stresses the words themselves fix: / stressed, ˘ unstressed, · a syllable the word leaves free and the metre decides. Read against iambic pentameter. How this is done.
| Line | Syl. | Stress |
|---|---|---|
| Of old men wrought strange gods for mystery, | 10 | ·······/˘˘ |
| Implored miraculous tokens in the skies, | 10 | ˘/˘/˘/˘··· |
| And lips that most were strange in prophecy | 10 | ·······/˘˘ |
| Were most accounted wise. | 6 | ··˘/˘· |
| The hearthstone’s commerce between mate and mate, | 10 | ···/˘····· |
| Barren of wonder, prospered in content, | 10 | /˘·/˘/˘·˘/ |
| And still the hunger of their thought was great | 10 | ···/˘····· |
| For sweet astonishment. | 6 | ··˘/˘˘ |
| And so they built them altars of retreat | 10 | ·····/˘·˘/ |
| Where life’s familiar use was overthrown, | 10 | ··˘/˘···˘/ |
| And left the shining world about their feet, | 10 | ···/˘····· |
| To travel worlds unknown. | 6 | ·/˘·˘/ |
| We hunger still. But wonder has come down | 10 | ·/˘··/˘··· |
| From alien skies upon the midst of us; | 10 | ·/˘······· |
| The sparkling hedgerow and the clamorous town | 11 | ·/˘/˘··/˘˘· |
| Have grown miraculous. | 6 | ··˘/˘˘ |
| And man from his far travelling returns | 10 | ·····/˘˘˘/ |
| To find yet stranger wisdom than he sought, | 10 | ···/˘/˘··· |
| Where in the habit of his threshold burns | 10 | ···/˘··/·· |
| Unfathomable thought. | 6 | ˘/˘˘˘· |
The reader shows the same poem with its rhymes coloured and a stress row above each line, the notes beside their stanzas, and any word's definition on a tap; the analysis page takes the whole book apart. How every part of this site was made.